Great cheese balls of pleasure – Dona Rita Pão de Queijo

Dona Rita Pão de Queijo pop up stand

Dona Rita Pão de Queijo products are not to be missed. Pão de Queijo means in English Brazilian cheese balls. The pop-up stand in which you can buy them from direct and eat freshly cooked is based at Old Street underground station (until 25 November 2017) so be quick. If you do miss this pop up though you can buy online.

They looked, tasted delicious and certainly were cheese balls of delight. So fluffy and cheesy. To me they tasted a bit like choux pastry but with a much fluffier, spongy inside and cheesy.

Homebaking Pão de Queijo’s

I even took a pack of the frozen Dona Rita Pão de Queijo back to my parent’s that night to see what they thought. After 20 minutes in the oven home we all sat down and munched away on the 15 decent size cheese balls between us all. They tasted as just as fresh as the ones I ate at the pop up stall. My parents, husband and even my six year old niece all loved them. They all said that they loved the fluffy smooth texture inside and the taste of the cheese that hits the palette. They will certainly leave you craving for more after as we all were at the end of it.

Let me tell you more about Dona Rita

Rita used to live in Brazil but upped sticks and moved to Norwich. However she missed the Pão de Queijo so much that she decided to start baking them from scratch. It has taken her 15 years to perfect her secret family recipe making it even better than the original. She started to trade them only recently back though here back in March 2017. You can buy them from a number of stockists (see further below) and on occasions you will be able to buy and taste them from various pop ups that she will be doing throughout the year.

More about Pão de Queijo’s

Still confused what they really are? Well they are cheese balls with a lovely crunchy outside and fluffy on the inside. They are made with cassava flour and fresh cheese without containing wheat making them naturally gluten free. You can either eat them by itself or pair with a short black coffee São Paulo style, or spread thickly with guava, chutneys, jams or guava jam. What is guava you may ask it well it is a tropical fruit that’s sweet and aromatic.

Where did Pão de Queijo originate from?

Pão de Queijo is a staple snack that can be bought from most cafes, restaurants and served at dinner parties across Brazil. With the most popular dip being the guava jam.

Buying to cook at home

You can even make these beauties back at home like I mentioned earlier. Firstly empty the packet and defrost the frozen balls and then place them on a tray and heat in an oven at 180 degrees (fan) and pop them in for approx. 20 minutes until nice and golden. Heavenly.

Where can you taste these?

At present Dona Rita has a pop up stand in Old Street Station which she runs with Clara.

However be quick as this pop up stand will only be there until 25 November. You can taste freshly cooked Pão de Queijo from here.

Plus you can buy bake at home frozen packets from here. A packet contains 15 cheesy balls and cost £5 per packet.